


A Story Told Through Cupcakes

by KnightOwl725



Series: Healing in a Graveyard AU [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drabble, F/F, Gay yearning, Modern Era, Pining, beaujester, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24244870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnightOwl725/pseuds/KnightOwl725
Summary: Beau falls in love through a series of cupcakes.For Beaujester Week 2020's Cupcake prompt
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Series: Healing in a Graveyard AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1740379
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	1. Strawberry

**Author's Note:**

> Written on my phone then edited briefly, so apologies if any typos slipped through!

It was orientation, and upperclassmen lumped together the new students, all dressed in matching t-shirts and sugary sweet smiles.

The blue tiefling that was apparently named after a clown, or whatever, smiled just as eagerly at the ragged group before her. Beau noticed her energy, her naivete. They all did.

"I like this one," the purple tiefling muttered to his tall, hot friend. 

"She's sweet," the friend agreed. 

"My mama and I got cupcakes for everyone to start off orientation in high spirits!" Jester explained, producing a paper box. She opened it to reveal a dozen bright pink desserts.

The rest of them exchanged glances. There was a bakery logo on the box, and they looked professional and all. It was just 9am.

"Yeah, sure," Beau said, unable to come up with a nice way to say no. She was an adult now. Kinda. She was trying to make friends here. What was one stomach ache? 

Jester smiled so brightly at her that she had to blink spots from her eyes as she accepted the dessert. The others crowded in after her to accept theirs.

_Strawberry,_ she thought as she took a bite. It was too sweet for her usual tastes, but you know, it was pretty good.


	2. Cherry

Her blue lips had gone red, and Beau laughed.

“It’s all over your face, Jes,” she said, reaching out with a napkin. Jester dutifully leaned forward, laughing and making the mess so much worse before it’s better.

“I’ve never seen a cupcake so tall before!” she exclaimed, admiring the bright red tower of frosting with one bite missing on top of a little piece of cake.

“It’s kinda a lot,” Beau admitted. This would destroy her stomach if she tried to eat it like Jester. Might destroy it anyway.

“So I found a place,” Jester said. “Molly told me all about it, and he and Yasha have been there for a bit now.”

“What are we talking about?” Beau couldn’t tell half the time, but the constant confusion was a spinning park ride she couldn’t get off. She’d learned to just go with it.

Jester took another bite of pure frosting, wiping at her own face this time. “A place to live, silly!”

“The place Molly and Yasha live? The _graveyard_?”

Jester reached for her hair, a little bit of red frosting mixing in with the blue curls in her anxious tick. “It’s really not that bad, and they said the owner is really nice and chill and stuff. And it’s in our price range, and we could have our own rooms, and we’d be in the same house as Molly and Yasha, and Caleb and Nott were looking at it, too. We could all live there together!”

That did sound pretty cool, the whole Nein under one roof. Well, almost the whole Nein. “No way we’d convince Fjord to check it out. Not with that girl he’s been hanging around pulling his strings like a fucking puppet.”

Jester deflated, as she did anytime Fjord’s current situation came up. That, or she threw mental darts at Avantika, visible as though they were real. Made Beau feel weird, in that I’m-worried-about-my-friend way. Probably.

“Maybe not, but we could try, right? Just get him to look with us? Molly said he could give us a tour since the owner is out of town.”

Beau wasn’t sold on a graveyard as her home, but spending the afternoon with Jester and Molly was enough of an excuse. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Jester jumped in her chair, clapping her hands together once. “Perfect! Let’s finish our cupcakes, and then we can find Fjord!”


	3. Creamsicle

"Beauuuuu!"

She'd know that voice anywhere. She'd know that tone anywhere, the same tone that usually came before some kind of perilous experiment or request. Not that Beau ever said no.

She'd just stepped into the Xhorhaus after classes and the gym. Her body ached in that warm, loose way she'd come to enjoy.

Beau followed the voice into the kitchen, dropping her bag by the stairs. Jester and Caduceus stood side by side, surrounded by half-cleaned baking utensils and the warmth of a recently used oven. The smell of vanilla and cake and - was that orange? - hung in the air.

"It's like a million degrees outside, and you guys are baking?" she asked.

"It's a summer treat!" Jester said. "Caduceus got these really tasty creamsicles - you know, those orangey creamy ones - from the farmer's market and I said 'wouldn't it be great if there was a cupcake flavor like this' and Caduceus said 'I could do that', and here we are!"

"Turned out pretty good for a first try," Caduceus said.

Jester brandished a plate filled with orange-iced cupcakes. "Look! Try one!"

Beau would have preferred the original popsicle, but she wasn't about to say no. She took one of the cupcakes from the edge of the plate and took a bite. "Oh shit that's good."

Jester nearly upended the plate in her excitement. Caduceus reached out to keep it aloft as she cheered.

"It tastes, like, exactly right," Beau said, peering at the cupcake as if looking at it might reveal its secrets.

"Caduceus did such a good job--"

"You were very helpful Jester--"

Beau finished her cupcake as they recounted the harrowing tale of baking. When she finished, she saw Caduceus turn to the sink.

"No, Caduceus, let me clean up," Jester insisted.

"You have homework you said you need to do, and it'll take an awful long time to clean all this. I can manage."

"But you've already done the shopping and made us lunch and prepped dinner and--"

"Let me help Jes clean up," Beau offered.

"Yes!" Jester exclaimed. "Beau will help, so you have to rest Caduceus!"

"Pretty sure the plants by your shrine were looking a little droopy," Beau said.

Caduceus regarded her sternly, his eyes telling that he knew she was bullshitting him but the risk was too great to ignore. He relented and retreated from the kitchen to care for his plants.

Beau and Jester went to work, Jester bringing over an endless supply of dishes as Beau scrubbed them clean. Then, Jester dried and put them all back.

"We haven't talked much this week," Beau said. "How was visiting your mom over the weekend?"

Jester brightened. "Oh it was really fun. She put on this beautiful performance and I showed her some of my really cute new clothes and my art project. I tried getting my dad to come by, but he said no."

She deflated a bit as she spoke, so Beau said, "These things take time, you know? He thought he'd never see her again, and now he's got a kid, and he ended up a lot closer than he thought he would. And it's only been a few months, Jes. Give him time."

Jester frowned in thought. She opened one of the higher cabinets, stretching onto her toes to place a stack of clean bowls inside. "You're right. It has been a lot of change for him, and he's already so busy. He just needs some time. But Mama gets so lonely sometimes, and I just hate knowing that they so obviously love each other, but he's too stubborn to see her."

Turning to Beau, she asked, "Can you even imagine being in love with someone and not wanting them to know?"

"Uh…"

Beau turned back to the dishes, hoping her face hadn't gone red. "I dunno. It's complicated sometimes. You don't know if the other person is into you at all, or if it might ruin what you have with them already when it's really good, and you might get hurt or they might get hurt. I guess it's just easier not to."

Jester sighed. "I suppose. I just don't understand it."

"I think that was the last dish," Beau said, drying her hands on a dish towel. She made a show of looking around the kitchen. "Yup. Last one. I'm gonna go shower now."

"Oh, okay. Thank you Beau!"

Beau passed by her, awkwardly patting her on the shoulder. "Yeah, I, uh. Later."

Her signature exit. All those times she charmed a hot girl, and she turned into a total awkward idiot when Jester was around. 

Whatever. This _thing_ she had for Jester would pass. It had to.


	4. Blueberry

It was the summer after Fjord moved into the Xhorhaus, and Jester had convinced them to go to the beach.

“It’s not that far, and we can stay with my mom,” she explained.

They had planned on renting a van, since none of them owned a car, much less one big enough for all of them. But then Jester’s dad caught wind of their trip, and a shiny black van appeared out front of the Blooming Grove for their use. 

“We’re going to ruin that thing,” Fjord said when he saw it.

Jester clapped in glee. “My dad is so cool, you guys!”

So they made the trip out to the beach, only an hour or so once they got out of the city. Marion Lavorre’s home was lovely and elegant, save for the parts covered in young Jester’s art. It wasn’t quite equipped to house all of them, but the Nein hadn’t gotten this far as friends by maintaining strict personal space rules. They piled together between the few rooms available, reminiscent of orientation and that first year in dorms.

They planned on splitting the two rooms by gender, just to keep it simple, but then Caleb gave the girls a mournful look at the prospect of being the third wheel to Caduceus and Fjord, so Nott switched rooms.

They settled down early for the evening, ready to hit the beach first thing in the morning. But Yasha couldn’t sleep, so she left the room to wander about until she was tired. There was a good chance they’d find her sleeping on the porch in the morning, rested as could be.

Beau had just re-situated herself after Yasha left when she heard, “Psssp!”

Her eyes opened to see Jester crouched beside her, wearing her pink nightgown. Who wore a nightgown these days? The Lavorre women, apparently.

“Yes, Jester?”

“We should sneak out,” she announced, whispering as though anyone might hear them. The boys wouldn’t care even if they did, and her mother’s room was a little further away in the house.

“Wait, what?” Beau asked, pushing herself up by her arms. “Why?”

“I dunno, just for fun,” she said with a shrug. “I never snuck out when I was little, and you said you used to all the time.”

“Uh, yeah. I guess.”

Beau rubbed at her face, then asked, “Where do you want to go?”

Jester frowned, twisting her hair as she thought. “Maybe the boardwalk? They stay open pretty late, at least some of the shops there. And it’s not that late anyway.”

She sighed, but she did it with a soft smile. “Alright, yeah. Let’s get changed.”

Jester barely contained a squeal of excitement. Beau showed her the old tricks she used to use to make her parents believe she was home. Blankets pulled high over pillows. It was a teen’s ruse, but Beau’s parents weren’t the type to look that hard anyway.

Quietly, they padded through the house in socks, carrying their shoes with them. There was a soft light from under Marion’s door as they passed. The sound of a chair scraping from the other side brought them to a halt, Beau reaching behind herself to signal Jester to stay still.

But then, the light went out, and they snuck down the stairs and out the door.

Once they’d gotten some distance from the house, Jester erupted into laughter.

“That was so crazy!” she exclaimed. “Like we were spies, or something!”

It wasn’t, not really, but it was still kinda fun. All the tension of sneaking out, but none of the real risks. 

“Come on, Beau!”

They left the van and walked to the boardwalk instead. Jester had promised it was only a few minutes away, which ended up being closer to half an hour, but Beau wasn’t complaining. It was nice to see Jester’s home, to hear her excitedly point out all her childhood landmarks.

The boardwalk itself was still bright and alive, with hanging lights, street vendors, and constant streams of music competing for attention.

They walked about for a while, Jester commenting on the old and new. They watched a juggler take on increasingly dangerous items, played a carnival style throwing game that Beau nearly destroyed with an over-intense throw, and generally took in the energy of the venue.

“Oh, look!” Jester cried. She grabbed Beau’s arm and pointed, bringing her to a stop in the middle of the walkway. Other patrons moved around them, casting them agitated glances. Beau didn’t care. Screw ‘em.

Jester was pointing to a tiny storefront with a bright interior and vibrant colors. _Up Late Cakes_ , the sign overhead read in painted, stylized font.

“That’s some stoner shit right there,” Beau remarked.

Jester laughed. “No! Well, okay, maybe! But my mom used to bring me here when she needed me to help with a performance or something. No other bakeries would open this late. They have the most amazing blueberry cupcakes ever!”

“Let’s try it, then.”

The joy on Jester’s face was worth the lost sleep, the sugar high, the long walk, and so, so much more. They entered the tiny shop, ordered a pair of blueberry cupcakes, then crammed themselves into a vacant corner table. 

Beau glanced out the window directly to her right to see all the people walking around. Families, but only a few out this late. Group of friends and tourists. Couples.

She looked away from them. It was a weird feeling, that brand of jealousy. She hadn’t really been a _relationship_ person for the most part. The idea of waking up to one person, to doing just about everything with them, to spending _every day_ with them and all their quirks and charms alike seemed just overwhelming.

But now she knew Jester. They spent every day together. Did nearly everything together when they could.

“Best friends,” Jester called them. And that was good. It would be perfectly, really, if it weren’t for Beau’s stupid feelings complicating everything. 

At least Jester wasn’t so into Fjord anymore. It sucked a lot less to crush on someone when they weren’t openly crushing on someone else. Except now it freed up the unruly parts of her imagination to go wild with possibilities. 

What if every day was kinda like this? Jester took the mundane world and made it brighter, weirder, infinitely more chaotic and fun. What if every day, Beau could wake up and have no idea what might be in store for her, only that Jester would be at her side? And not in the usual, you-never-know-what’ll-happen kinda way. Something a little more magical than that. 

She’d convert to whatever the Traveler’s religion was called. She’d eat cupcakes every day for the rest of her life. She’d win teddy bears and sneak out and stay up late chatting and cover for Jester’s more disastrous plans and laugh and just be _happy_.

But as she sat across from Jester, watching as the tiefling got blue frosting on her little blue nose, she realized that she already had all of that. That line between friends and lovers had been blurred, and they were walking somewhere in that blur even if Jester didn’t see it. But Beau was _happy_. If this was all they ever were, she would be okay with that.

At least, that’s what she needed to believe right now.

Beau handed her a napkin, and once her face was clean, Jester smiled softly at her and said in a soft voice, “Thank you for coming with me, Beau. I feel like we haven’t gotten to hang out as much lately, just me and you. I was missing you.”

Beau swallowed over the sudden, aching pain in her chest. Was that what this was all about? “Yeah, I missed you too, Jes.”

She leaned in as though she were about to spill a secret and whispered, “But, you know, next time you can just ask. You don’t have to make a whole excuse about wanting to sneak out.”

Jester laughed, leaning back with her head up. “But it was really fun, wasn’t it? I wonder if anyone has noticed?”

“Caduceus definitely has,” Beau said, wiping the bit of frosting off her fingers. “Got pinged in a dream or something.”

“For sure. And maybe Yasha, if she went back to the room.”

“Speaking of, we should probably head back.”

Jester, for just an instant, relaxed into a disappointed slump. But Beau blinked, and she was upright and cheery once again. “Yes, I don’t want anyone to actually worry!”

They cleared their trash and headed back out into the street, where more and more shops were turning off their lights. They walked back to the house, bumping shoulders as they pointed out stars overhead.

This was enough. And if Beau said it to herself enough, and if she didn’t look at Jester too long, and if she didn’t read into anything she did, and if she didn’t _think_ or _feel_ too much, she would be right.

At least, that’s what she needed to believe right now.


End file.
